By Dan Ambrose: The July showdown between former WBC middleweight champion Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. (48-1-1, 32 KO’s), now fighting in the super middleweight division, and WBA middleweight champion Gennady Golovkin (29-0, 26 KO’s) doesn’t look like it’s going to happen now, as Top Rank wants Chavez Jr. to sign an extension before they’ll make that fight happen, according to ESPN.
Top Rank was still willing to make the fight between the two, but with Chavez Jr. making less money than he would if he signed an extension. However, Chavez Jr. wants the bigger money deal to get the Golovkin fight, minus the extension. Chavez Jr’s contract with Top Rank expires next year in October of 2015.
Golovkin’s promoter Tom Loeffler from K2 Promotions doesn’t want to sit around waiting for the fight to happen and end up missing out on a fight in July on HBO if the fight doesn’t take place. He plans on looking for another opponent for Golovkin to fight in July. Golovkin was willing to move up to 168 to fight the heavier Chavez Jr, and he’d also signed some concessions to make the fight happen, but unfortunately Chavez Jr. and Top Rank have been unable to reach an agreement for the fight.
“What Chavez wants is the bigger purse without the futures,” Arum told ESPN. “Why would we take a risk losing money on the fight with Golovkin and then we lose the kid as well? If we can make money and then he wants to go his way, OK. But he can’t have it both ways.”
If Arum sees the Chavez Jr-Golovkin fight as a potential fight that will lose money, then why is he interested in making it in the first place? If there’s risk involved, then Arum needs to focus on matching Chavez Jr. against guys he’s certain will make money. Arum could start with him the hulking Chavez Jr. move up to light heavyweight, which shouldn’t be hard for him to do given his huge size, and put him in with Sergio Kovalev, the WBO light heavyweight champion.
Kovalev fights on HBO like Chavez Jr. and he’d jump at the chance to fight the guy. It may not be a PPV fight, but at least it would bring in good ratings on HBO, and it could potentially increase Chavez Jr’s popularity should he beat Kovalev. But as much problems that Chavez Jr. had beating a very average Brian Vera in his last two fights, it’s very hard to see Chavez Jr. being able to compete with someone like Kovalev. For that reason, I don’t think Arum would take a chance in making that fight.
Golovkin would have been a problem for Chavez Jr. as well, so it’s perhaps for the best that Arum doesn’t make that fight. I think it would make money for Arum and Top Rank, but it would likely result in a crushing loss for Chavez Jr, and that in turn would likely bring down his value to Top Rank in the remaining time Chavez Jr. has on his contract with them. What Arum doesn’t need is to make the Golovkin fight, and then have Chavez Jr. torn to pieces by the smaller fighter. Arum would then have a fighter in Chavez Jr. that might have problems bringing in the ratings he is now. The way it is now, Arum can have middle of the road middleweights come up in weight to fight Chavez Jr. at 168, giving Chavez Jr. a huge weight advantage, and his fights still do will on HBO.
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